Religious freedom or intolerance? Which is it, Hoosiers?

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Unless you live in a cave, by now you know that Indiana passed a law last week that allows businesses to discriminate against gays. The sound bites from the news are that bakeries won’t be obligated to sell wedding cakes, and florists won’t have to sell flowers to gay couples getting married.

Former NBA great Charles Barkley, Angie’s List, the NCAA and others have criticized the law for promoting discrimination, but Indiana Gov. Mike Pence stated Sunday there was much “misinformation ...

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31
MAR
6

Social Issues

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Fraternity racist chants–what about contrition?

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The story a few weeks back about the bigotry displayed by two members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma gave rise to different viewpoints about how the situation should have been handled. Here are two that stand out.  Both miss the mark.

One reader of the Columbus Dispatch thought the fraternity members’ words should be protected by the First Amendment. As the argument goes, if we allow the Ku Klux Klan to protest on public venues, ...

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24
MAR
6

Social Issues, Uncategorized

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Does something get lost in the ISIS-Islam debate?

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President Barack Obama has taken heat for trying to distinguish between ISIS and Islam. I don’t care to debate whether ISIS fighters represent an extreme wing of Islam or are just madmen who try to cloak themselves under the veil of Islam. They’re killers and thugs.  That’s enough for me.

But since Islam has become part of the discussion regarding terrorism—rightly or wrongly—maybe it’s worth looking at Islam from another angle. Let’s look at Muslims who serve in the U.S. military.

The ...

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17
MAR
4

Social Issues, The Military

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They sit on Death Row–forever

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Over the weekend I was preparing for a presentation I’m giving next week on the cost of the death penalty. The lengthy post-trial proceedings that follow nearly every death sentence likely make the death penalty more costly than a life sentence without parole. I say likely because Ohio has yet to study the cost of the death penalty, but other states have, and those studies conclude that the death penalty costs more.

As I was trying to determine the average length ...

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9
MAR
7

Death Penalty

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He was a man for all seasons

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He did it all. He elevated what had been regarded as a football school to a major university. He spoke several languages and traveled the world. He rubbed elbows with presidents and popes and had a significant role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  He got to fly in an Air Force SR-71 Blackbird (care to cruise at 80,000 ft. while doing Mach 3?) and the Navy F-14 Tomcat. (I flew F-14s. The Navy didn’t give rides to ...

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2
MAR
2

Social Issues

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